The equipment used in drilling, completion and working over of hydrocarbon wells in the past has almost entirely been a matter of brute force rather than finesse. Drilling rigs in particular and workover rigs to a lesser extent are characterized by massive machinery, high horsepower pumps and a brute force approach to problems. In contrast, coiled or spooled tubing units are much more finesse oriented because the pipe that comprises the work string is much smaller, much thinner and much less capable of accommodating large forces. At one time, coiled tubing units were widely known as an invitation to a fishing job because there were so many mechanical failures of the work string or the loss of bottom hole components in wells.
It is a tribute to the manufacturers of coiled tubing and coiled tubing equipment and a tribute to operators of coiled tubing equipment that the reliability of coiled tubing operations has increased dramatically over the years. In addition, the relative attractiveness of coiled tubing operations as compared to conventional workover rig operations has improved substantially to the extent that coiled tubing units have taken considerable market share from workover rigs in the completion and reworking of hydrocarbon wells.
So called pressure snubbers are known in the art and are used between a fluctuating pressure source and a gauge to protect the gauge from pressure spikes and to damp pressure fluctuations. These devices comprise a fitting having a porous metal insert or a single perforation. A gauge or pressure sensor is threaded into the fitting.
Relevant to this invention are the disclosures in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,749,185; 4,297,880; 6,109,367 and 6,421,298.